Preview — The Post-Office Girl
by Stefan Zweig

The Post-Office Girl

The post-office girl is Christine, who looks after her ailing mother and toils in a provincial Austrian post office in the years just after the Great War. One afternoon, as she is dozing among the official forms and stamps, a telegraph arrives addressed to her. It is from her rich aunt, who lives in America and writes requesting that Christine join her and her husband in aThe post-office girl is Christine, who looks after her ailing mother and toils in a provincial Austrian post office in the years just after the Great War. One afternoon, as she is dozing among the official forms and stamps, a telegraph arrives addressed to her. It is from her rich aunt, who lives in America and writes requesting that Christine join her and her husband in a Swiss Alpine resort. After a dizzying train ride, Christine finds herself at the top of the world, enjoying a life of privilege that she had never imagined.

But Christine’s aunt drops her as abruptly as she picked her up, and soon the young woman is back at the provincial post office, consumed with disappointment and bitterness. Then she meets Ferdinand, a wounded but eloquent war veteran who is able to give voice to the disaffection of his generation. Christine’s and Ferdinand’s lives spiral downward, before Ferdinand comes up with a plan which will be either their salvation or their doom.

Never before published in English, this extraordinary book is an unexpected and haunting foray into noir fiction by one of the masters of the psychological novel....more

One has to approach this novella with trepidation. Zweig did not publish it. The first and posthumous edition is from 1982, after a considerable reworking of Zweig’s drafts by Knut Beck. Zweig took his own life in a planned manner in February 1942, but before doing so he had sent to his publisher two manuscripts which he had just finished: his memoirs or Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers and Schachnovelle. To leave this earlier work unfini

FRAGMENTED IDENTITIES / FRAGMENTED NOVEL

One has to approach this novella with trepidation. Zweig did not publish it. The first and posthumous edition is from 1982, after a considerable reworking of Zweig’s drafts by Knut Beck. Zweig took his own life in a planned manner in February 1942, but before doing so he had sent to his publisher two manuscripts which he had just finished: his memoirs or Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers and Schachnovelle. To leave this earlier work unfinished was his decision.

The German edition has a most interesting Afterword by Beck, the paramount editor, in which he explains the history of the composition. Beck quotes from a letter by Zweig from 1931 in which he confides that he is stuck in the middle of the novel and that he felt as in front of a ditch (ein tiefer Graben). He probably stopped there and years later, when he was already living in London, took it up again. This was going to be his first novel.

We don’t even have his title for the work. It has been published in German under Der Rausch der Verwandlung (The Intoxication of Transformation), and this title has been kept literal in the translations into French and Spanish. It originates in a couple of fragments from the book and Beck picked it. For the English edition, or The Post Office Girl, my understanding is that the very different title was borrowed from a tag used by Donald Prater European Of Yesterday: A Biography Of Stefan Zweig in his biography from the 1970s (mentioned by Beck as Postfräuleingeschichte).

I have to say that I don’t like this English title. It is too prosaic and there is an enchanting amount of lyricism in this novel. But the German title does not entirely suit it either, or may be it suits half of the work.

But that is just it: this title suits the part that Zweig wrote before he felt to be in front of a hole.

Because the novel itself, in its current form, is somewhat fragmented, as was its conception. And this I clearly felt while I was reading it. Disconcerted, I posted an update stating that I did not know where Zweig was going.

In the first part, and the English edition has indeed adroitly created two separate parts, Zweig presents in his very characteristic way what has been called an existential version of the Cinderella story. But Zweig is our literary cardiologist. He is the author who with his pen can listen to a heart pulsating and give us, flowingly, the life that emanates from that inner pump. Using expansive imagery in which he equates the landscape in the Alps with the inner workings of a young woman’s heart he brings forth issues of identity – and fragmentation. Because in taking her pulse he has detected more than one heart.

And so Zweig shows us that traveling can exert its transforming power. It can tear away from the individual the protecting shell of conventionality. The metamorphosis thus began and Christine Hoflehner becomes the much happier Christiane van Boolen. And questions are raised. What constitutes one’s identity? How come a different self can be conjured up by a change of setting and a change of clothes? Is materiality so determinant for the soul then? Do we have more than one “I” if one starts accumulating, deep in one’s consciousness, different experiences from those lived in the past? How many "selves" do we have?

Zweig dwelt on this idea, and on his memories from his earlier time in Engadin, when he first worked on this novel. When he returned to the work, his own life and his own circumstances had changed. He was living in exile and in distraught awareness of the dreadful political situations with as yet unforeseen consequences that were developing in his and other countries. He was also going through the divorce from his first wife and the marriage to his young secretary.

Zweig himself was grappling with his newly transforming identity as he undertook the continuation of his story and the search for the soul of Christine. In a different tone he proceeded to project a greater emphasis on the limitations that prevent full control of one’s life and destiny. With this new focal point social and political circumstances, and money, take on an unexpected role. Money, the magic substance that can become the mirror of one’s desires, becomes the helm that could allow a person to steer towards the desired self.

Zweig however felt that he had not succeeded in this literary attempt and left the drafts on loose sheets. And Beck’s archivist work could only leave us a novella that did not quite become a novel. Its modernist tint and ending may not be intentional.

With interest I learn, also from Beck, that in the early 1940s Zweig took his manuscript up again, but this time to adapt it to a film. He worked very closely with Berthold Viertel on the new script. It was filmed, also posthumously, in 1950 as Das Verstohlene Jahr. The basic story had been transformed to include an additional episode (the sabbatical year of a Composer) not present in the book as Beck has graciously delivered it to us.

KalliopeCheryl wrote: "Wonderful review Kalliope. I like the "literary cardiologist". I wish I had the ability to read this in the original. And I love your cCheryl wrote: "Wonderful review Kalliope. I like the "literary cardiologist". I wish I had the ability to read this in the original. And I love your choices of illustrations -- they are perfectly suited."

LOL.. yes, he really is a "literary cardiologist".. I have read a couple more of his novellas, and they are further examples of this specialty of his.

TedThe top painting is one of my favorite Klimts, though I like all of them I've ever seen. Wonderful review.(view spoiler)["Klimts" - is that right? IsThe top painting is one of my favorite Klimts, though I like all of them I've ever seen. Wonderful review.(view spoiler)["Klimts" - is that right? Is that the way you write "the set of paintings by Klimt"? (hide spoiler)](view spoiler)[ _!_ (hide spoiler)]["br"]>["br"]>...more
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Jun 29, 2014 11:25PM

The world would be a better place if we could all just agree to read more Stefan Zweig. Is that so hard?

I have a pet theory, my own personal belief why Stefan has been neglected. Before the dawn of the e-book, Zweig's novels were shelved in libraries and bookstores in that alphabetical no-man's land: the tail end of the last shelf, right next to those spare metal bookends that look like jetsam from the Millenium Falcon. I can honestly say I've never once, ever, browsed without purpose in the Z'sThe world would be a better place if we could all just agree to read more Stefan Zweig. Is that so hard?

I have a pet theory, my own personal belief why Stefan has been neglected. Before the dawn of the e-book, Zweig's novels were shelved in libraries and bookstores in that alphabetical no-man's land: the tail end of the last shelf, right next to those spare metal bookends that look like jetsam from the Millenium Falcon. I can honestly say I've never once, ever, browsed without purpose in the Z's for a book. Zw? You're just asking to be the coaster for some asshat's unfinished Starbucks.

This is only the second Zweig I've read, both ebooks (I will remedy this!) and I am going to, 100%, read everything he has written. Several of you Goodread chums have read Chess Story and know how Zweig can write beautiful prose and tell a great story. His characters are rich, his settings vibrant and the pacing of his books is just ... enviable.

This novel is a gem and centers around the maxim that if money can't buy you happiness, it certainly can pay-off a lot of the blues. I'm not a plot recapper - you can get a good idea of the story from the GR synopsis. But this book is so much more than what happens. Here's a li'l something from Stefan:

"The vast power of money, mighty when you have it and mightier when you don't, with its divine gift of freedom and the demonic fury it unleashes on those forced to do without it..."

This story also has one of best endings I've read in a long while. I love pomo, experimental and all types of fiction. But sometimes I just want a really great story. And this book is exactly that.

Thanks much to my two GR friends, Proustitue and Kris for insisting I read Zweig....more

When will it be me? When will it be my turn? What have I been dreaming about during these long empty mornings if not about being free someday from this meaningless grind, this deadly race against time? Relaxing for once, having some unbroken time to myself, not always in shreds, in shards so tiny you could cut your finger on them.

Life can sometimes seem to be arrested in a state of perpetual halt; the waiting for your chance that never ever comes. Not a moment of respite, not a moment without

When will it be me? When will it be my turn? What have I been dreaming about during these long empty mornings if not about being free someday from this meaningless grind, this deadly race against time? Relaxing for once, having some unbroken time to myself, not always in shreds, in shards so tiny you could cut your finger on them.

Life can sometimes seem to be arrested in a state of perpetual halt; the waiting for your chance that never ever comes. Not a moment of respite, not a moment without worry. Not a moment that isn’t barely scraped from the blatant drudgery of routine. No rest, no sleep that doesn’t fear waking up. Christine’s life has no joy, no enthusiasm, no happiness. The days are of boredom and monotony, packed up into the office-routine, like used giveaway clothes in a cardboard box. It is the feeling of not having a personal moment of living dedicated just to oneself, to solely being happy. And of being caged forever in this drabness, like being stuck in a compartment with rapidly depleting air. A joyless living, a resignation, still with something sleeping inside that could be scratched back to consciousness.

War has ruined childhoods, it has destroyed families, it has afflicted people with a nightmarish living. War has killed desire, it has bred ennui and apathy, and worst of all it has bred unrelenting poverty. Zweig frequently describes the characters in this book in terms of their stark possessions. A tattered coat, its threadbare elbows, a cheap dirty shirt, a flat straw suitcase, a ragged umbrella, and one could conjure up a person altogether, could tell their whole stories. Christine’s mother’s life could be recounted with the meager possessions she left behind. Such images graze upon the mind; the bareness of existence, its insufficiency.

How could she ever wear such splendid and fragile treasures without constantly worrying? How do you walk, how do you move in such mist of color and light? Don’t you have to learn how to wear clothes like these?

It is interesting to mark the Cinderella-like transformations in Christine. Pretty clothes, new shoes; they highlight her sketchy outline and fill it with colors of visibility. It is as if she is a tangible person for the first time. Then lifeless and now intoxicated with life, with a new feeling of joy blazing inside. This rare swoon of lying back and being ministered to, this strange voluptuous feeling you haven’t experienced in years, in decades. The sensuality of this new feeling has been depicted as vividly as taking the first bite of a ripe fruit, as gulping in the freshness of morning air, and running down the path of one’s own self-discovery. It is the joy of being noticed, appreciated, desired. For the first time. The awareness of one’s own youth, attractiveness, desirability and desires. That such a phase is so short-lived, yet extremely potent in its possibilities makes Christine’s downfall extremely painful. The anti-climax seems like a sudden and rude cessation.

But how can I hide, how can I disappear quickly before anyone sees me and takes offense.

There is always the fear of betraying her poverty, her middle-class bearing to the contemptuous gaze of the rich. With such poverty, how hard it is not to be unsure of oneself. For Zweig’s protagonists, poverty is a great assault to pride because it perpetually denies them their rightful places in the world. It burrows deep holes in their withered lives making them dysfunctional individuals, impervious to genuine love, incapable to love fully. It is amazing how Zweig portrays these fully rounded characters with their continued apathy, their shrunken capacity to love, their lessened ability to live. There is a lack of stability, of dignity, of a personal space. It is an existence that is fractured, sullied and threatened. It keeps running around the same unbreakable circle of regularity and powerlessness. There are some who are hyper aware, some who are doused in sinuous complacence. Some have devised their own strategies of living their reduced lives, some refuse not to see what has been obfuscated, not to want what has been denied. They can’t be placidly engulfed in an existence that is scanty, at most a concession.

How terrible it is to have to live here, and why, who’s it for? Why breathe this in day after day, knowing that there’s another world out there somewhere, the real one, and in herself another person, who is suffocating, being poisoned, in this miasma. Her nerves are jangling. She throws herself down onto the bed fully clothed, biting down hard on the pillow to keep from screaming with helpless hatred. Because suddenly she hates everyone and everything, herself and everyone else, wealth and poverty, everything about this hard, unendurable, incomprehensible life.

This is a novel for today, an odd thing to say, considering it was written almost seventy years ago. It's a tragic version of the Cinderella story, a version with no glass slipper and no Prince Charming; it's a story of a girl taken to the heights only to be plunged back into the depths.

The author, Stephan Zweig, though not that well known in the English-speaking world, is probably the best late representative of the culture of old Vienna, that urbane, tolerant, sophisticated and brilliant worldThis is a novel for today, an odd thing to say, considering it was written almost seventy years ago. It's a tragic version of the Cinderella story, a version with no glass slipper and no Prince Charming; it's a story of a girl taken to the heights only to be plunged back into the depths.

The author, Stephan Zweig, though not that well known in the English-speaking world, is probably the best late representative of the culture of old Vienna, that urbane, tolerant, sophisticated and brilliant world, swept away forever by the rise of the Nazis.

His oeuvre covered such a wide area of intellectual life: he was a biographer, playwright, journalist, short story writer and novelist. After Hitler came to power Zweig left his native Austria, taking refuge in England, America and finally in Brazil, where he and his second wife committed suicide in 1942 in a mood of despair over a possible German victory in the War. The manuscript of his second novel was found among his papers. Remarkably it was to be forty years after his death it was published in Germany for the first time, under the title Rausch der Verwandlung-The Intoxication of Transformation. In 2008 it was translated and published in English as The Post Office Girl.

Written in a simple, fast-paced and intoxication style, it tells the story of Christine Hoflehner, a woman in her late twenties who manages a small provincial post office in Austria, a country only just emerging from the trauma of the First World War and the economic and social dislocation that followed.

The action begins in 1926, when Christine is twenty-eight years old and living with her elderly mother, whose health has been ruined by her past experiences. The Hoflehners, once a prosperous and middle-class family, have, like so many others of the time, been brought close to ruin by the war and its after-effects. Christine, a poorly paid civil servant, recognises that life is passing her by; that her horizons are always likely to be confining and confined. Even so, there is a kind of resigned acceptance in this destiny. But then a telegram arrives from Clara, her rich American aunt, holidaying with her husband in Switzerland.

As if a fairy-godmother had appeared, Christine is lifted out of the tedium and poverty into a brilliant world, a world full of rich and glamorous people. Dowdy and badly dressed when she arrived at the luxury Swiss hotel where her relatives are staying, she is transformed in dress and appearance by her aunt. Hesitant at first, Christine is drawn into the delights of her surroundings. All at once everything is possible. Losing all inhibition, Christine enjoys the company of new friends, of men who find her beautiful and beguiling, of people whose life and experiences have been so different to her own. She learns to forget. But then the dream ends, abruptly and cruelly. It's midnight; the clock is striking. Discarded by her aunt, she is thrown back into her old world.

It's at this point that the full tragedy of Christine's story is realised. What was tolerable before is now intolerable. Before there was nothing that stood in contrast to the tedium of her daily life; now there is. A gate was opened briefly, only to close forever. New forms of bitterness and despair set in only relieved, to a degree, when she meets Ferdinand, even bitterer than Christine. What follows is a love affair of a kind, limping and unsatisfactory, of two people bound by a mutual sense of rejection.

This is a fairy tale with no happy ending. In fact it might be said to have no ending at all. Remember it's an unfinished book, and the last few pages read almost as if the author is outlining possible future developments. To that degree the conclusion, such as it is, might even said to be abrupt. But there again, this might conceivably have been what Zweig wanted. After all, life is abrupt. No matter; it's one of those books that make a lasting impression, one that will stay with me for a long time to come....more

I am currently in my fifth work... and may have two or three I still want to read.
Jun 26, 2014 01:29AM

FionnualaKalliope wrote: "Which two other ones did you buy, Fionnuala?I am currently in my fifth work... and may have two or three I still want to read."

AfterKalliope wrote: "Which two other ones did you buy, Fionnuala?I am currently in my fifth work... and may have two or three I still want to read."

After reading The Post-Office Girl, and it must be at least five years ago, I bought Chess Story and one of Zweig's biographies Érasme, and a while ago, I bought his biography of Balzac called, Balzac Le Roman de sa vie - I must make a gr page for it - it doesn't seem to exist at the moment. I haven't read it yet though, but my gp recommended it - he's an ideal doctor - doesn't bother much with handing out medications, just talks books when I visit him. According to him, Balzac was the Gérard Depardieu of the nineteenth century!...more
Jun 26, 2014 01:48AM

The themes present in life during the grips of post-WWI stricken Austria (poverty, death, sickness, class distinctions); are sadly harsh realties that are also relatable in the modern day. Stefan Zweig explores the story of Christine, a poor 28-year-old Austrian woman who briefly enjoys the lap of luxury with her Aunt on a vacation but then is sent back to her lower-class private hell in, “The Post-Office Girl”.

Zweig’s “The Post Office Girl” is nothing short of a literary classic—a masterpieceThe themes present in life during the grips of post-WWI stricken Austria (poverty, death, sickness, class distinctions); are sadly harsh realties that are also relatable in the modern day. Stefan Zweig explores the story of Christine, a poor 28-year-old Austrian woman who briefly enjoys the lap of luxury with her Aunt on a vacation but then is sent back to her lower-class private hell in, “The Post-Office Girl”.

Zweig’s “The Post Office Girl” is nothing short of a literary classic—a masterpiece in its own right. Zweig dives right into the plot in the strain of a novella or short story without a “proper” buildup or introduction to the characters and yet, all is revealed on such an intimate and detailed level that the reader truly experiences all events and the psyches of Christine and the other characters. This is accented by delightful prose; which even with little dialogue transports the reader with vivid imagery and strong descriptions: the novel feels almost like watching a film.

One of the finest highlights of “The Post Office Girl” is Zweig’s amazing ability to demonstrate the emotions and actions of all the characters on a psychological level despite their ages, race, or gender. Zweig must have been an empath as few truly understand people on such an altitude. This makes not only the story in “The Post Office Girl” stand out but also offers the reader a sort of comfort and “food for thought”.

“The Post Office Girl” explores various themes of philosophical merit which brings to light the struggles of post- WWI Europe but also correlates these to any era and place which elevates the novel from simply being a dated HF story and enters the realm of a classical novel.

There are moments in the “The Post Office Girl” in terms of metaphors/ symbolism and emotional exchanges that are so raw and strong; that one can’t help but be taken aback (in the best way possible). Sometimes, “The Post Office Girl” requires a break from reading in order to take it all in (Note: “The Post Office Girl” is divided into two parts but there are no chapter breaks).

Zweig excels at presenting a story which is on the brink of improvisation: nothing is foreshadowed and much is unexpected which compels the story. This is also driven by the almost frantic pace of moments of stream of consciousness; adding layers to “The Post Office Girl”.

The climax of “The Post Office Girl” is unexpected, complex, and moving. Unfortunately, the story then takes an abrupt turn versus riding the wave and concludes the novel abruptly with unanswered questions and frankly: in a boring way. This weakens the strength of the entire book, unfortunately.

Even with the poor ending; “The Post Office Girl” is an amazing piece of writing which accurately portrays poverty, depression, and struggles in a psychological way. “The Post Office Girl” is recommended for those who enjoy character/life studies or those who have similar paths in their lives as the text is refreshingly relatable and wonderfully written. ...more

The Post Office Girl is a story about a poor, young postal worker, Christine, who gets the chance of a lifetime to have a very brief, but wonderfully transforming vacation from her poverty-stricken life. She is allowed to taste luxury and all that money can buy in a world of wealth and happiness she has never known. This story takes place in Austria after WW1 and is an indictment against Austrian society, or society in general, and the way it allowed the soldiers of WW1 and their families to fl The Post Office Girl is a story about a poor, young postal worker, Christine, who gets the chance of a lifetime to have a very brief, but wonderfully transforming vacation from her poverty-stricken life. She is allowed to taste luxury and all that money can buy in a world of wealth and happiness she has never known. This story takes place in Austria after WW1 and is an indictment against Austrian society, or society in general, and the way it allowed the soldiers of WW1 and their families to flounder in poverty after the war. This book also looks at character and identity and how they can change with changing circumstances.

My only quibble with this novel is the introduction, in the second half of the story, of a new character, Ferdinand. He takes up too much space with all his ranting against society which become tedious at times. Worse, he takes the focus off Christine. Nevertheless, this is an extremely well-written page turner, exciting and depressing in turn, with excellent plot and characterization. ...more

" ...But it might be better not to know you're so poor, so disgustingly poor and wretched." -- Christine

This story, which takes place in Austria following World War One, centers around Christine (a lowly post office worker) and the internal psychological warfare she battles over the widened gaps between the social classes and economic equality. At 28, she lives a dreary, poverty-stricken existence dividing her time between work and caring for an ailing mother in their shared one room dwelling.

" ...But it might be better not to know you're so poor, so disgustingly poor and wretched." -- Christine

This story, which takes place in Austria following World War One, centers around Christine (a lowly post office worker) and the internal psychological warfare she battles over the widened gaps between the social classes and economic equality. At 28, she lives a dreary, poverty-stricken existence dividing her time between work and caring for an ailing mother in their shared one room dwelling. Resigned to this robotic life, she no longer dreams of what was -- before the war, before the rationing of food, clothing and before the loss of both her father and brother. She has relinquished all hope of regaining the lighthearted youth stripped from her at sixteen and can barely summon up memories of those early years. Defeated and accepting of her fate she lacks all expectation that things will change.

Yet change they do in the way of a telegram sent from her estranged Aunt. After fleeing Austria before the war, marrying into wealth and cutting off all ties with family, the Aunt wants to make amends with Christine's mother and in doing so, extends an invitation to vacation at an alpine resort in Switzerland. However, due to poor health, Christine's mother cannot travel and instead sends Christine in her place. She goes and the story then takes on an element of Cinderella.

Christine, now completely made over, has slowly shed the mousy, provincial shell of past and has emerged as the "it" girl of the swanky, social crowd. She has it all -- luxurious surroundings and all the trappings that money brings. But all is not what it seems at the hotel and just as in Cinderella, the clock abruptly strikes twelve leaving Christine once again an outcast, emotionally abandoned by her Aunt and left with no alternative but to return to her village. But how can she go back? How is it possible to undo all that she has seen, done, become?

Unable and unwilling to squeeze back into her confined past, she seeks refuge in a stranger of similar situation and together they try in vain to keep one another afloat as they rapidly sink lower and lower. Vowing that abject poverty will not be their future, they devise plans of desperate means. Each more costly than the next.

Would it really be a kindness to take a person living their entire life thus far in dull poverty and transport them for 8 days into the very lap of capitalistic luxury, in full knowledge that at the end of the vacation, they would be returned to their previous life?

Christine was one such person, living in post-war Austria with her ailing mother, knowing nothing but poverty and a dreary job in her little town's post office. Her wealthy American aunt, having a sudden attack of conscience, decidesWould it really be a kindness to take a person living their entire life thus far in dull poverty and transport them for 8 days into the very lap of capitalistic luxury, in full knowledge that at the end of the vacation, they would be returned to their previous life?

Christine was one such person, living in post-war Austria with her ailing mother, knowing nothing but poverty and a dreary job in her little town's post office. Her wealthy American aunt, having a sudden attack of conscience, decides to invite her to spend 2 weeks with her in Switzerland. Our mousey unassuming Christine is almost paralyzed with fear when she arrives, believing herself to be unworthy of such luxury, and embarrassed by her old and unfashionable clothes and suitcase. But after an afternoon of shopping with her aunt for new clothes and shoes, and a stylish haircut, Christine emerges like a new butterfly. Unused to being surrounded by beauty, luxury, and elegant society, she flits about and her innocent delight with everyone and everything she sees sets a glow about her, enchanting and alluring. Our shy post office girl relishes her new found confidence and spirited joy.

But without warning, her aunt brusquely sends her back home, back to her old job, back to her joyless life. Her mother passes away while she's on her way back. To Christine, life could not be more bleak in comparison to the careless frivolity she enjoyed just a short while ago. She's no longer kind nor generous with her time to her neighbors and those who come to the post office. She wears her bitterness like a thick coat around herself, impenetrable and puzzling to all who had known her.

She visits her sister's family in Vienna, and meets Ferdinand, a veteran of the war, and an equally bitter soul. Bitter because he's been discarded by society and the government like an old odd sock since his return from Siberia. The 2 of them form an awkward relationship. It's not one that either finds particularly joyful but it's one they cling to because they understand each other's bitterness. Their increasing anger and disappointments takes them to a turning point in their lives.

This is an absorbing work and one that is masterfully crafted. It's also one that lingers in the reader's mind after the last page has been turned....more

Author examined the 1920s Austrian conditions and mentality. The characters, Christine and Ferdinand, are at an impasse in their youthful lives. Both (twenty-eight to thirty years old) remember better, hopeful times of earned prosperity and landed security, but that was innocently lost through a force external to them (WWI and its conditions afterward) through no fault of their own and is without recourse to reclaim it. While Christine has meager but steady employment in a village post office thAuthor examined the 1920s Austrian conditions and mentality. The characters, Christine and Ferdinand, are at an impasse in their youthful lives. Both (twenty-eight to thirty years old) remember better, hopeful times of earned prosperity and landed security, but that was innocently lost through a force external to them (WWI and its conditions afterward) through no fault of their own and is without recourse to reclaim it. While Christine has meager but steady employment in a village post office through a connected relative and can expect a pension, Ferdinand is an uncompensated, disabled veteran, while the country's bureaucracy checks identifications and seems to perpetuate itself rather than to be a proper "custodian". The scenes range between shabbiness, opulence, and squalor, between poverty, wealth, and homelessness. Ferdinand thinks rationally, planning step-by-step what he intends to do; Christine takes pride in never being a burden but errs in regarding Ferdinand as superior. Ferdinand sets out a seemingly justified, analyzed plan to give them some freedom. The best of the book is the description of interwar life in Austria and the creation out of those times of desperate characters for whom having prestige and money is the way to at least short-lived happiness, esteem, and love. Is Ferdinand an oxymoron, a morally justified knave?...more

Most of the positive reaction to this book involves the setting, the time, the basic concept of Cinderella at the ball and some mention of the fact that it is "well written". Faced with a wealth of reviews you have the ability to make an informed decision about reading this, if you pay attention closely. What you don't hear about is the fact that Zweig leads the reader through each predictable situation by the nose, elimininating the engagement that might otherwise be present in a book that holdMost of the positive reaction to this book involves the setting, the time, the basic concept of Cinderella at the ball and some mention of the fact that it is "well written". Faced with a wealth of reviews you have the ability to make an informed decision about reading this, if you pay attention closely. What you don't hear about is the fact that Zweig leads the reader through each predictable situation by the nose, elimininating the engagement that might otherwise be present in a book that holds its audience in higher regard. No need to attack Zweig here on a personal level (others have done that with feral efficacy)because it's ultimately his book that we are concerned about here. As I read on - I became more infuriated with the simplicity of the language and the trite plot devices. I have read some Zweig that I've enjoyed but you really need to approach this one with caution. If you are looking for an easy read with a plot that most well-rested toddlers will be able to predict - here's your book. Zweig sold lots of books in his day just like McDonalds sells lots of cheeseburgers. If you demand that a writer show some respect for your intelligence - look to Banffy or Moricz for WWI Austro-Hungarian drama. If you want a better US example - read James T. Farrell - simple but engaging where Zweig, in this offering at least, is dull and pandering. I can't stomach another book about women that are only social-climbing, dumb and sexually disfunctional...so uninteresting....more

In Lund Sweden there is a museum that preserves preliminary sketches, and I always love these unfinished trial works, most meant to be discarded, much better than the formal polished art pieces intended for grand walls. As an archivist, I prefer meandering drafts to revised and pruned final prose. So it may just be my preference, but I loved reading "Rausch der Verwandlung", even though, or perhaps because, the evolution of the stories (there are two) is still visible in the text, which was recoIn Lund Sweden there is a museum that preserves preliminary sketches, and I always love these unfinished trial works, most meant to be discarded, much better than the formal polished art pieces intended for grand walls. As an archivist, I prefer meandering drafts to revised and pruned final prose. So it may just be my preference, but I loved reading "Rausch der Verwandlung", even though, or perhaps because, the evolution of the stories (there are two) is still visible in the text, which was reconstructed posthumously but with great care. There are no chapter headings to guide the reader. In the beginning the prose is carefully modulated, with a charming depiction of an Austrian post office in all its banal bureaucratic order. And Christine, the otherwise orderly post office girl, who is shocked to get a telegram of her own, leaves the telegraph machine on as she dashes off with her unexpected invitation, and the machine hammers on...the opening is carefully written and lovely. Then the prose gets carried away with the scenes of the wealthy at play at the grand hotel, too breathy and Vicki Baum in style, but it conveys the girl's euphoria with buoyant charm, and the reader immediately knows her happiness is not sustainable. The themes are weighty: wealth, poverty, loss, identity, vicious envy, disappointment, what we'd call PTSS, are all amplified in the aftermath of the catastrophic crash of empires in 1918. The second half of the novel brings in Ferdinand, a victim of World War I. Between Ferdinand and Christine, the full tragedy of war becomes evident, and there is nothing they can do about their plight. Ferdinand rants on and on. An editor would have tightened it all up, but I like it out of control. Which Ferdinand was. The novel heads to a tragic ending, but takes an unexpected turn which may have been the intended ending, or may not. It is left open...and that suits the subject, it suits Zweig's style, and it's oddly more suited to our own ambiguous age. ...more

I liked this book a lot. It has many excellent qualities and it's themes and implications resonate as strongly now as when it was written. We live in a time when people are suddenly elevated to the vapid realms of celebrity because they have appeared on a particular television programme; had a liaison with a President or marry someone wealthy. The newspapers which feel they have delivered fame to these people always follow the trajectory of an arc. The adoration reaches a peak and then, with ru I liked this book a lot. It has many excellent qualities and it's themes and implications resonate as strongly now as when it was written. We live in a time when people are suddenly elevated to the vapid realms of celebrity because they have appeared on a particular television programme; had a liaison with a President or marry someone wealthy. The newspapers which feel they have delivered fame to these people always follow the trajectory of an arc. The adoration reaches a peak and then, with ruthless pleasure, they begin to rip apart the persons reputation. So it is for Christine who becomes enmeshed in a situation she never quite understands. Sadly for her, she never realizes that when something is too good to be true it's because it is! For the people at the hotel she is only of interest because of the identity which they, and through naivety she, have constructed. They want this person to represent a desire or to be an object of intrigue, so they make her as they wish her to be, and because they made her they can unmake her too. The cipher, left floundering when they have had enough, must return to obscurity. Tomorrow at the hotel someone else can become the object of admiration and lust.The second part too has great pertinence for the world as it is now. Soldiers returning from pointless wars; the huge numbers of unemployed or the many with jobs of infinite tedium. They are all present throughout the world now, just as they were when Zweig was writing the novel. Ferdinand may rant on a bit too much but I was really stirred by the eloquence of his descriptions of life in Siberia and the daily humiliations of his working life. It seemed surprising to me that Zweig could manage to be so convincing in his depiction of the thoughts of Ferdinand, especially in his feelings of angst and alienation. Whether the plan worked or not...well, either way I feel that, sadly for Christine and Ferdinand, happiness was never likely to visit them for long. ...more

A lush, descriptive prose soaked in an acerbic, dark humorous tone makes Stefan Zweig stand out.This intriguing tale of a young, 28-year-old woman stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time makes it a story of deep pathos and an earnest page-turner.

Christine's dilemma is of a Post-War II generation, who, though still in their 20's, already feel that youth is behind them. Financial insecurities, cutting costs, and hard times all around. Even an unexpected vacation seems almost like a burden..

"SheA lush, descriptive prose soaked in an acerbic, dark humorous tone makes Stefan Zweig stand out.This intriguing tale of a young, 28-year-old woman stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time makes it a story of deep pathos and an earnest page-turner.

Christine's dilemma is of a Post-War II generation, who, though still in their 20's, already feel that youth is behind them. Financial insecurities, cutting costs, and hard times all around. Even an unexpected vacation seems almost like a burden..

"She’s aware of it all and, in her pleasant detached stupor, unaware of it too: drugged by the humid, fragrance-laden air, she hardly knows if all this is happening to her or to some other, brand-new self. It’s all dreamily disjointed, not quite real, and she’s a little afraid of suddenly falling out of the dream.."

The thriller element is,of course, a part and parcel of Zweig. There is an unpredictable twist in the tale which makes it all the more interesting.

This is a book about a 28 year old postal office worker named Christine set in post-WW1 Austria. Poverty-stricken following the war, she barely scrapes enough money together to support herself and her ill mother in their one-room apartment but she seems content; resigned to the life she was born to live. One day, an estranged aunt from America sends word that Christine should join her and her husband on a glamorous 8-day vacation at an exclusive Swiss resort. Unraveling just like a Cinderella stThis is a book about a 28 year old postal office worker named Christine set in post-WW1 Austria. Poverty-stricken following the war, she barely scrapes enough money together to support herself and her ill mother in their one-room apartment but she seems content; resigned to the life she was born to live. One day, an estranged aunt from America sends word that Christine should join her and her husband on a glamorous 8-day vacation at an exclusive Swiss resort. Unraveling just like a Cinderella story, Christine experiences the joys of wealth and luxury for the very first time in her life, becoming increasingly intoxicated with the high class lifestyle of the rich and famous during her stay. But all good things come to an end and Christine's aunt drops her just as quickly as she picked her up. Christine finds herself thrown back into the shabbiness of her old life but with a different perspective. The life she was accustomed to for the last decade now seems a thousand times worse when compared to the posh hotel, silk gowns, and company of VIP's she experienced so recently. Feelings of bitterness and disdain begin to build inside her. Disgust for everything-- society, money, her village and even herself-- has grown to a boiling hatred until by chance she meets a war veteran named Ferdinand who feels he has been cheated out of the best years of his life by the government and is experiencing similar feelings about his situation as Christine. They stick together, two unhappy people wallowing in each other's misery, carrying on with a pathetic love affair, helpless to do anything about their lot in life until Ferdinand comes up with a plan that could either make or break them.

This is an important book about poverty and the huge gap of wealth. Although the characters and their lives are fictitious, the concept is very real and could've been adapted to anyone, especially in 1920's Austria. Zweig did a good job with descriptions. You really had a feel for the environment he was describing and the emotions of despair and hopelessness going through Christine and Ferdinand. But I didn't care much for the characters. There was not enough background information on Ferdinand to warm up to him and all you hear throughout part 2 is his incessant political rambling about the evils of society and government. Christine's selfishness and naivety annoyed me. The tragic thing about the whole book was that if she opened her eyes a bit and made a few better decisions while with her aunt, she might have changed the course of the rest of her life....more

I feel a bit mixed about this book. I know that Zweig doesn't lack critics, I've haven't yet read the Michael Hofmann take down but I will soon, and at first I was prepared to disagree with them here. I thought then that the book was an interesting look at the interwar period from a voice perhaps closer to the public that the more experimental, bohemian, elite works coming after WWI. At the same time the depiction of the despair the war, and fate, caused for Christine was very powerful. This isI feel a bit mixed about this book. I know that Zweig doesn't lack critics, I've haven't yet read the Michael Hofmann take down but I will soon, and at first I was prepared to disagree with them here. I thought then that the book was an interesting look at the interwar period from a voice perhaps closer to the public that the more experimental, bohemian, elite works coming after WWI. At the same time the depiction of the despair the war, and fate, caused for Christine was very powerful. This is not a crippled vet, but a young woman one might have thought escaped the war relatively unscathed. But Zweig shows her to be a victim on a similar plan to any soldier, and the sense of injustice is perhaps stronger because of her ostensible inaction in the war. And then I thought the scenes in the hotel, and Christine's discovery of the 'Good Life' was also strong. Could this almost be a Marxist novel? And not just that, but one with out a warring hero, but a nice young girl who simply is excited to enjoy the pleasures that come with money. This is definitely a "woman's book" (I'm thinking of the precursor to chick lit and possibly the genre that creates the modern novel).By also showing the hypocrisy of the rich, and their meanness, I thought this section seemed political important; here is a book, not toting any party or aesthetic line, but trying to entertain the reading masses while exposing injustice and hypocrisy in their world. I also thought her transformation and Christine's changing identity was very good.

I did find the second part faltered however. Now the book became more preachy. Longer speeches about the detrimental effect of the war that has been covered in other books in much better way. While Christine seemed an original characters as she wasn't really a 'victim' in the war, the character of Ferdinand fell a bit flat. And it was in the second part where the melodrama seemed to take over. No small feelings for these characters, every emotions is strong and polar. And that, I think, is not great writing, and my interest began to flag. Anyway I'm glad I read this book, and think it is important historical work in an important time for literature. It's imperfect, but still contains the kernels of some very interesting ideas....more

I started and finished The Post Office Girl in one day. I just couldn't put it down. It's a story that pulls you in at once and never lets go.

It was written in the 1930s by one of Vienna's most famous authors at the time, Stefan Zweig. Shortly after writing the book, he was forced by the Nazis to flee Europe. He died a few years later in 1942 while living in South America.

A short synopsis of the story (NOT a spoiler...)

The story is about a 28 year old woman named Christine, who lives in a smallI started and finished The Post Office Girl in one day. I just couldn't put it down. It's a story that pulls you in at once and never lets go.

It was written in the 1930s by one of Vienna's most famous authors at the time, Stefan Zweig. Shortly after writing the book, he was forced by the Nazis to flee Europe. He died a few years later in 1942 while living in South America.

A short synopsis of the story (NOT a spoiler...)

The story is about a 28 year old woman named Christine, who lives in a small, secluded Austrian village with her bed-ridden mother and works as a poorly paid post office clerk in a tiny run-down office. Life is a struggle for survival in this period after WWI. She is a young woman who has lost a brother, a father and her youth in the aftermath of the war. She expects nothing but hard work and exhaustion day in and day out, and receives nothing but those things for years on end. Her life is predictable and never-changing. In a way, Christine's a shell of a woman--with little feeling or emotion for what it is to be alive. She goes through the motions of living each day, with no expectations.

Then, one day a surprise telegram appears at her little post-office from a wealthy aunt, her mother's long-lost American sister, inviting her to Switzerland to join her and her husband in a posh resort hotel for a 2 week vacation. With mixed feelings, she travels by train to the Swiss mountains. Over the course of a week, her life as she knew it changes forever. She sees what she's been missing in her empty, poverty-stricken existence back in Austria. She gets a taste of wealth and the incredible feeling of freedom which accompanies it. When she's suddenly forced to return home a week early to her miserable life in Austria and her small, isolated post-office, she returns to a completely different world than the one she left. Nothing equals the experience she has had in Switzerland. None of the people she once cared for mean anything to her. She cannot accept this old life of hers anymore.

Christine has changed and her world will never be the same.

It's a beautifully written story--and an absolute classic--deserving to be widely read. I found myself completely engaged from beginning to end and amazed at the gorgeous, descriptive narrative. It made some of my most recent reads pale in comparison. Stefan Zweig is a gifted story-teller. He is a new favorite of mine.

The Post Office Girl wasn't published in Germany until 1982 (later translated into English in 2002.) It had been found as an unfinished manuscript among Stefan Zweig's belongings after his death.

I really enjoyed this bittersweet novella of Zweig's. I'd long heard of him but this was my first plunge into his work. It's a bit of an anti-Cinderella story, I suppose, where the princess does get to go to the ball, but the prince doesn't bother to come find her later. Christine is working in a remote Austrian village in between the two Great Wars. Her mother is an invalid, they are poor and Christine works at the post office, without much hopeA bit from a blog post I just did about this one:

I really enjoyed this bittersweet novella of Zweig's. I'd long heard of him but this was my first plunge into his work. It's a bit of an anti-Cinderella story, I suppose, where the princess does get to go to the ball, but the prince doesn't bother to come find her later. Christine is working in a remote Austrian village in between the two Great Wars. Her mother is an invalid, they are poor and Christine works at the post office, without much hope of change. Out of the blue a wealthy aunt extends her an invitation to join her in a luxury hotel, and Christine begins to live, breathe and dream again. We've had a great discussion over on the New York Review of Books discussion forum here at GoodReads , which is an open group--feel free to join us--we're on to Berlin Stories by Robert Walser.

There is a lot to say about this book, but as someone pointed out to me early on, Zweig was exquisite at rendering subtle psychological states. I was particularly struck by this one, because it shows the mind still remembering its cage:

In this new world even sleep is different: blacker, denser, more drugged, you're completely submerged in yourself. As she awakens Christine hauls her drowned senses out of these new depths, slowly, laboriously, bit by bit, as though from a bottomless well. First she has an uncertain sense of the time. Through her eyelids she sees brightness; the room must be light, it must be day. It's a vague, muffled feeling, followed by an anxious thought (even while she's still asleep): Dont' forget about work! Don't be late! The train of thought she's known for the last ten years begins automatically: The alarm clock will ring now... Don't go back to sleep... Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility... Get up now, work starts at eight, and before that I'll have to get the heat started, make coffee, get the milk, the rolls, tidy up, change mother's bandages, prepare for lunch, and what else? There's something else I have to do today...Right, pay the grocer lady, she reminded me yesterday...No, don't doze off, stay alert, get up when the alarm goes off... But what's the problem today...What's keeping it...Is the alarm clock broken, did I forget to wind it...where's the alarm, it's light in the room...Goodness, maybe I overslept and it's already seven or eight or nine and people are cursing at the wicket the way they did that time when I wasn't feeling well, right away they wanted to complain to the head office...And so many employees are being let go these days... Dear God, I can't be late, I can't oversleep...The long-buried fear of being late is like a mole tunneling under the black soil of sleep. Abruptly the last of it falls away.

A critique of capitalism and its effect upon the human spirit. For 8 days Christine gets to experience abundance. For that brief period she doesn't hear people say, it's too expensive. Her aunt and uncle are on holiday in Europe and, for 8 glorious days introduce Christine to a life of luxury, of feeling happy and being desired. Powerful men are courting her. She is radiant and lives each moment with gusto. Then, suddenly, without warning, her aunt brings it all to an end. The following morningA critique of capitalism and its effect upon the human spirit. For 8 days Christine gets to experience abundance. For that brief period she doesn't hear people say, it's too expensive. Her aunt and uncle are on holiday in Europe and, for 8 glorious days introduce Christine to a life of luxury, of feeling happy and being desired. Powerful men are courting her. She is radiant and lives each moment with gusto. Then, suddenly, without warning, her aunt brings it all to an end. The following morning she returns to her life of toil and sorrow. This abrupt reversal of fortune leaves her bitter and she feels nothing but contempt for herself and those around her. Then she meets Ferdinand, a man 2 years her senior. A war vet who has been discarded by a government who no longer has use for him. If misery loves company these two are the perfect pair. Together they share their anger at the cards they were dealt , the way it limits their opportunity to fully experience love and freedom. I am trying to tell the story without spoilers so I'll stop. I may have already revealed too much.Plus, I'll probably write up a longer review over the coming weekend....more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.Couldn't put it down -- read the whole thing straight through. It starts off like a Jane Austen novel (poor, beleagured Christine in expensive clothes and pursued by handsome rich men!) and then suddenly it's like House of Mirth with an double shot of existentialism. I like the jacket description: Cinderella meets Bonnie & Clyde.

I've never used the word heartbreaking to describe anything, but I will for this book. And the end is masterful -- the only hope the author gives is that this plan tCouldn't put it down -- read the whole thing straight through. It starts off like a Jane Austen novel (poor, beleagured Christine in expensive clothes and pursued by handsome rich men!) and then suddenly it's like House of Mirth with an double shot of existentialism. I like the jacket description: Cinderella meets Bonnie & Clyde.

I've never used the word heartbreaking to describe anything, but I will for this book. And the end is masterful -- the only hope the author gives is that this plan that Christine and Ferdinand have come up with, that's 99.99999% doomed to failure, has a .000001 chance of success.

Set in 1926, The Post Office Girl tells the story of an impoverished girl, Christine, from an impoverished family running a "Post Office" in an impoverished village in Austria. Her life changes dramatically when her wealthy aunt invites her to stay at a lavish hotel... but not forever. As Smokey Robinson said, "a taste of honey's worse than none at all" and that's the main theme of the novel.

Zweig does a good job of describing the abject lives of Christine and her family in what must have been iSet in 1926, The Post Office Girl tells the story of an impoverished girl, Christine, from an impoverished family running a "Post Office" in an impoverished village in Austria. Her life changes dramatically when her wealthy aunt invites her to stay at a lavish hotel... but not forever. As Smokey Robinson said, "a taste of honey's worse than none at all" and that's the main theme of the novel.

Zweig does a good job of describing the abject lives of Christine and her family in what must have been incredibly desperate times. He also shows how money and privelege can turn people into despicable human beings. Christine's despair after being rejected by her aunt and returning to the village can be felt on every page. Of course, it doesn't quite stop there but you'll need to read it yourself to find out the rest.

The Post Office Girl is a quick read, aided by the excellent translation that I found to be seamless. It was certainly an interesting read that I would happily recommend, especially as it's quite short so won't take up too much time. However, do be prepared for some rambling thoughts from Christine and even worse rambling rants from a character later in the book. While both are mainly relevant, they can become tiresome, but not enough to spoil the book....more

3.5 stars.Post World War I Austria. Virtually the whole world has been thrown into a life of poverty and hardship. In the small village of Klein-Reifling Christine is the Post Office girl, one of the few people lucky enough to have a regular wage, albeit a small one.Out of the blue comes a telegram from her rich American aunt Claire. Herself and Christine's uncle are holidaying in the Swiss Alps and have invited Christine to join them. Almost immediately on arrival, Christine is swept up into a3.5 stars.Post World War I Austria. Virtually the whole world has been thrown into a life of poverty and hardship. In the small village of Klein-Reifling Christine is the Post Office girl, one of the few people lucky enough to have a regular wage, albeit a small one.Out of the blue comes a telegram from her rich American aunt Claire. Herself and Christine's uncle are holidaying in the Swiss Alps and have invited Christine to join them. Almost immediately on arrival, Christine is swept up into a life of luxury and decandence that she's never before known of.Abruptly, for reasons unknown to Christine, her aunt Claire cuts her off, sending her back to her life of drudgery.Having now had a taste of the high life, Christine becomes dissatisfyed with her dreary Post Office job and becomes increasingly frustrated. On a visit to her sister in Vienna she meets an old army buddy of her brother-in-law's, Ferdinand Farrner. In him she sees a kindred spirit, someone else who's equally frustrated and angry with the social injustice of poverty that has to be endured..Together they begin an affair. However, they cannot carry on interminably in the same vein, and resolve to take one of two paths.One; to exit this dreary life by their own hands or two; to steal from the Government, in this case represented by the Post Office Christine works for and return to a former life of riches. Which path will they choose?...more

Thanks to Wes Anderson for reintroducing Stefan Zweig to a mass(ish) audience. I saw the credit at the end of Grand Budapest and didn't recognize the name. There were occasionally times that I felt like I saw parts of the movie in here, but it is a very different story with a much more serious tone.

This book is now one of my favorites. It feels especially relevant to me at this moment in my life, living basically in poverty and feeling cheated in some way that is hard to articulate, disenchantedThanks to Wes Anderson for reintroducing Stefan Zweig to a mass(ish) audience. I saw the credit at the end of Grand Budapest and didn't recognize the name. There were occasionally times that I felt like I saw parts of the movie in here, but it is a very different story with a much more serious tone.

This book is now one of my favorites. It feels especially relevant to me at this moment in my life, living basically in poverty and feeling cheated in some way that is hard to articulate, disenchanted and discouraged at my inability to live up to whatever expectations I carry. The novel's observations regarding money, social class, and freedom are still apt, sometimes shockingly so.

The books is divided into two parts. Prepare for some minor spoilers.

The first (somewhat longer) part could stand on its own as a novella. A 28 year old woman who works at the post-office in a rural area and who feels the best years of her life have been stolen from her by the first world war is unexpectedly given an opportunity to spend two weeks with wealthy relatives who have been out of touch for the previous ten years. She arrives at a luxurious hotel and immediately becomes conscious of her own poverty and lack of experience. But her rich aunt gives her a makeover and that is all it takes to give her access to a social circle of fashionable young people, where she experiences immediate popularity. She becomes self-absorbed and shallow so quickly, taking it all for granted. But she soon loses access to this world and is forced to return to her post-office job, which is so much worse now that she's had a glimpse of what life offers a lucky few.

Part two details a relationship she has with a similarly disillusioned man around 30 who is a former prisoner of war and now lives in poverty, partially disabled, his dreams of being an architect crushed. Here you get a sense of how very little freedom (of any kind) is allotted to those without money and in a society that has glaringly hypocritical values regarding sex (among other things). I won't spoil the ending for you, but I thought it was clever and wonderful.

I do think this book is too long (it's 250 pages) and somewhat repetitive and didactic, hammering home the same points with multiple examples, but I'm not sure what I would take out. (This book went unpublished for 40 years after Zweig's death, and it is possible that it would have been polished or edited more if Zweig had lived longer than he did.) The writing, at least in this translation, is good enough that the length wasn't really a problem for me. And I felt so exhilarated to see so much of my own experience of the world on the page for the first time that it was compelling enough that I read it more quickly than I would read shorter novels. I imagine it is similar to someone who is strongly pro-Capitalist plowing through Atlas Shrugged. I'm not sure this book has a clear political agenda, however, except to point out that those in positions of power are obliviously lording it over the miserable underdogs, and that money is so important and at the same time so arbitrarily distributed. The solution the book proposes is not however anything to do with the political left but rather something much more personal and transgressive.

Some quotes:

"In her giddiness, unable to imagine that everyone isn't burning with enthusiasm, isn't in a fever of high spirits, of passionate delight, she's lost her sense of balance. She's discovered herself for the first time in twenty-eight years, and the discovery is so intoxicating that she's forgetting everyone else."

"She throws herself down onto the bed fully clothed, biting down hard on the pillow to keep from screaming with helpless hatred. Because suddenly she hates everyone and everything, herself and everyone else, wealth and poverty, everything about this hard, unendurable, incomprehensible life."

"No one's going to convince me that breathing and getting fed is all it takes to make everything all right. I don't believe in anything anymore, not gods or governments or the meaning of life, nothing, as long as I feel I haven't got what's rightfully mine, my rightful place in life, and as long as I don't have that I'm going to keep on saying I've been robbed and cheated. I'm not going to let up until I feel I'm living my true life and not getting the dregs, what other people toss out or couldn't stomach."...more

The Post Office Girl was published posthumously. After Stefan Zweig's death, the manuscript was found. It was not intentionally left for publication.

Much of the novel depicts the strife, poverty and burdens to survive in a bleak world. The second half of it clearly demonstrates the debilitation of lifestyle that individuals went through. Those on the fringe were left with less than the threads they originally had.

Stefan Zweig certainly was masterful in his depictions, emotional ones, as well asThe Post Office Girl was published posthumously. After Stefan Zweig's death, the manuscript was found. It was not intentionally left for publication.

Much of the novel depicts the strife, poverty and burdens to survive in a bleak world. The second half of it clearly demonstrates the debilitation of lifestyle that individuals went through. Those on the fringe were left with less than the threads they originally had.

Stefan Zweig certainly was masterful in his depictions, emotional ones, as well as visual. I found the story to be compelling regarding social stigmas, and how it affects the mindsets of those individuals who are deemed as being less than desirable.

I tend to think that the story line is more relevant to his own life, his train of thought, and his perception of society in a state of flux. The ever-changing world was a predominate issue for him, and one he had difficulty coping with....more

I was deeply moved by this book. This is not a book for the beach or the light-hearted reader. Zweig struck me as a master craftsman with language. His sentences were constructed so beautifully that I got the feeling that each sentence was meant to invoke a response. Each paragraph flowed carefully from one to the next. Each chapter built perfectly on top of the previous. In short, he is an architect of story telling like few others I have read. Much of this story reminded me of reading Thomas MI was deeply moved by this book. This is not a book for the beach or the light-hearted reader. Zweig struck me as a master craftsman with language. His sentences were constructed so beautifully that I got the feeling that each sentence was meant to invoke a response. Each paragraph flowed carefully from one to the next. Each chapter built perfectly on top of the previous. In short, he is an architect of story telling like few others I have read. Much of this story reminded me of reading Thomas Mann. If there had been no plot at all, the words alone would still be worth reading!

This is a two-part story that clearly takes the reader through the meticulously simple life of a working class woman who has put aside all hope and dreams of an interesting life to stay home and care for her aging mother. She has accepted an existence without hope of love, travel, family or adventure. She works as the sole post-office employee in a small Austrian town. She lives with her mother in a loft above a barn and has no suitors or opportunity to be social. And she is perfectly content. Then, out of nowhere, she is shunted off to a two-week vacation with her estranged and exceedingly wealthy aunt. At first, she has no idea how to act and rejects being in this world of luxury. Yet it is startling how quickly she changes to accept her own beauty (in clothes bought by her aunt), her popularity, having people waiting on her in the hotel and all the extravagant amenities of a top rated hotel. She is magically transformed into a princess!

But the author does not end the tale there. In fact, as a reaction to the world around him at the time of his writing this, Zweig brings the world crashing down on the girl. Her aunt suddenly sends her home with no explanation and she has to readapt to having nothing again and no one. This shocking return to the 'real world' does not have a Disney ending. IT shocked me to the core.

I highly recommend this book. Be prepared for a emotionally hard read, but well worth the experience. You will likely love it or hate it, but you will have a strong response to this wonderfully crafted story. ...more

‘She has begun to find out who she is, and, having discovered this new world, to discover herself.’

Christine Hoflehner is the post office girl of the title, working in a village branch in Klein-Reifling, Austria, in the years after World War One. Her days are identical, each spent working away at the post office, just earning enough to make ends meet, and then returning to the small home she shares with her ailing mother. There is the constant awareness of most things being ‘too expensive’, of h‘She has begun to find out who she is, and, having discovered this new world, to discover herself.’

Christine Hoflehner is the post office girl of the title, working in a village branch in Klein-Reifling, Austria, in the years after World War One. Her days are identical, each spent working away at the post office, just earning enough to make ends meet, and then returning to the small home she shares with her ailing mother. There is the constant awareness of most things being ‘too expensive’, of having to scrimp and save to survive.

Then one day an unexpected telegram arrives from Christine’s American aunt, a wealthy woman, inviting her to stay with her and her husband at a resort in the Swiss Alps. Not having had a break, let alone a holiday in years, after initial fear and apprehension Christine accepts the initiation. Traveling to meet them she is painfully aware and self-conscious as to her appearance, but as the journey goes on she becomes aware of the sights outside the train carriage window, and it dawns on her, with joy and surprise, that there is a whole world which she has never seen.

‘Indifferent and without desires before, now she’s beginning to realize what she’s been missing….This is her first glimpse of the unimaginable majesty of the Alps, and she sways with surprise…if not for the accident of this journey, she herself would have died, rotted away, and turned to dust with no inkling of their glory.’

Her stay at the resort with her aunt and uncle will irrevocably alter her life. She discovers a world of luxury, freedom and pleasure, surrounded by pretty clothes, beautiful interiors, exciting people, and she is intoxicated and totally swept away by it all. There are none of her usual worries about lack of money, of boredom and routine; everything is new and exciting, the world is there to be discovered, people to meet and places to see. She undergoes such a change in all aspects of her life; it is like a real Cinderella story, from rags to riches.

On waking on her first morning in the hotel, ‘she looks and around and remembers everything – vacation, holiday, freedom, Switzerland, her aunt, her uncle, the magnificent hotel! No worries, no responsibilities, no work, no time, no alarm clock! No stove, no one waiting, no pressure from anyone: the terrible mill of hardship that’s been crushing her life for ten years has ground to a halt for the first time….She feels self-confident and happy as never before.’

Suddenly having to return to her former life, to her job at the post office, to wear her old clothes again, to return to the village, having tasted this alternative, leaves Christine utterly devastated and ashamed. Looking at her old clothes in the hotel wardrobe, the language conveys how disgusted and black she feels about them and the life they remind her of; ‘the hated blouse she came in, dangling there as white and ghastly as a hanged man.’

Back in Klein-Reifling, ‘everything hideous, narrow, disagreeable about this little world she’s been pushed back into digs in its barbs until she can’t even feel her own pain.’ A chance meeting with an old friend of her brother-in-law in Vienna one Sunday, someone with whom she feels a common bond, will shape her life going forward.

What a moving, emotional novel that sees the human spirit briefly reach such happiness and then return to such deep despair, driven by a glimpse of what wealth can offer and dragged down by grinding poverty in the post war years. I feel the author has captured the drudgery and monotony that can overshadow a life, as well as the potential beauty. He has so convincingly demonstrated, through Christine, the highs and lows of capitalist society, and how this can affect one woman’s life. I felt such sympathy for her, having her hopes for a different life so suddenly raised and just as suddenly shattered.

The language is beautiful, the story compelling, and the pain palpable. This work was found after the author’s death by suicide in 1942. I would highly recommend it. ...more

The Post Office Girl is a beautifully written, emotionally revealing story of a 28-year old, single woman – Christine - living in the post-World War I landscape of Europe. It explores and has the reader understand her experience of facing a poverty-laden, lonely life in which each day brings incessant work and chores, doing without virtually any niceties, and facing living conditions that are in many ways, disgusting.

Most importantly, I think the story shares what it is like for this woman – depThe Post Office Girl is a beautifully written, emotionally revealing story of a 28-year old, single woman – Christine - living in the post-World War I landscape of Europe. It explores and has the reader understand her experience of facing a poverty-laden, lonely life in which each day brings incessant work and chores, doing without virtually any niceties, and facing living conditions that are in many ways, disgusting.

Most importantly, I think the story shares what it is like for this woman – deprived of so many things in her youth – to suddenly, finally get a glimpse of who she is; who she might be, and view herself as someone who can be admired, loved, cherished, and most of all, wanted and cared for.

As with the first Stefan Zweig novel I read, Beware of Pity, the prose is intoxicating – hallucinogenic in a way. The author immerses you in the feelings and emotions of Christine and her surroundings so completely, that you, as the reader, feel as though you have assumed heightened empathetic sensory perception with her; living what she sees, feels, tastes, thinks, fears, dreads. I found it totally compelling and it leaves you with a real sense that you’ve “been there”....more

Stefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from and Unknown Woman and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942.

Zweig studied in Austria, France,Stefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from and Unknown Woman and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942.

Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide.

Zweig's interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig's essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hlderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dmon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefhle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and mile Verhaeren.

Most recently, his works provided inspiration for the 2014 film 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'. ...more

“Time to leave now, get out of this room, go somewhere, anywhere; sharpen this feeling of happiness and freedom, stretch your limbs, fill your eyes, be awake, wider awake, vividly awake in every sense and every pore.”
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“For this quiet, unprepossessing, passive man who has no garden in front of his subsidised flat, books are like flowers. He loves to line them up on the shelf in multicoloured rows: he watches over each of them with an old-fashioned gardener's delight, holds them like fragile objects in his thin, bloodless hands.”
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